Entombed
Left Hand Path

If not certainly, most likely the European metal scene in the last decade has been dominated by Sweden.
It couldn't be otherwise, in fact, the Scandinavian country has managed to produce bands of the caliber of Opeth, At The Gates, In Flames, Meshuggah, and Entombed, which have also gained significant international recognition.
I would like to focus specifically on the last mentioned band, particularly on their debut, a mysterious, glacial, and stunningly evil album like the splendid cover: yes, I'm talking about "Left Hand Path"!

The album was released in 1990 when Entombed consisted of Lars Goran Petrov on vocals, Alex Hellid and Uffe Cederlund on guitars, and finally Nicke Andersson on drums, while the bass role during the recordings was handled by the last two.
Given the release year, it's understandable that there are still many Thrash influences coming from overseas, but despite all this, the work manages to detach itself from this genre and attach more to an unmistakably Death style thanks to its dark atmospheres, and the Title-Track is a glaring example: opening with the piercing scream of a person immersed in the foggy night of the cold Scandinavian forest among a thousand damned spirits, it lets loose with heart-stopping riffs featuring guitars that chase each other incessantly, ending with an enchanting yet dark keyboard passage.
With the following "Drowned," the oppressive and violent atmosphere that characterizes much of the album is restored, presenting itself as a very good song, as are the subsequent tracks "Revel In Flesh," "When Life Has Ceased," "Supposed To Rot," and "But Life Goes On."
As the seventh track, we find the iconic "Bitter Loss," monumental from the first riff to the final solo, where the use of double vocals, both clean and growl, is successfully experimented. Not less impressive is the subsequent "Morbid Devourment," which with its slowdowns and speed changes highlights Nicke Andersson's abilities, not to mention the bonus track "Carnal Leftovers," another highlight of the album and the last noteworthy track.

Surely you won't find a production as good as those of recent releases, but we can't complain if we have guitars that present something of a chainsaw sound, as they make the album even more savage than it might already be.
Unfortunately, the lyrics are what they are, predominantly featuring sulfurous themes (thinking that the album translates to "The Left Hand Path," we understand a lot about the most used themes), which in my opinion greatly lower the quality of the work, but nevertheless, "Left Hand Path" remains one of the first masterpieces of Nordic metal, unfortunately forgotten but certainly essential for the growth of Swedish death...

Chilling.